War with Iran | PBS News Special Report

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to this PBS News special report. Today, the U.S. and Israel launched an unprecedented joint attack on Iran with the stated intention to overthrow the Iranian regime.

Multiple U.S. and Israeli airstrikes targeted a range of sites, including Iran's political leadership, military commanders and missile infrastructure. And President Trump announced on social media this evening that Iran's supreme leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei, was killed in the strikes.

In response, Iran launched its own unprecedented wave of retaliation on half-a-dozen regional countries, focusing not only on American bases, but also civilian infrastructure. Iran's president called the attacks on his country unprovoked and illegal and Iranian officials say that one strike hit a girl's school in Iran killing more than a hundred. We have team coverage tonight

here in Washington let's start with our foreign affairs and defense correspondent Nick Schifrin. So Nick how did this conflict between the US Israel and Iran

actually start? How did we get to this point? With an unprecedented decision by President Trump to launch a joint US or Israeli war to collapse the Iranian state. That's really how this started. Israeli and American officials described to me dozens of strikes on dozens of targets around the country.

You can see the map there. The largest operation in Israeli history using Israeli jets as well as American tomahawks and jets. Israel primarily focused on Iran's leadership, as well as missiles whose range can target Israel. The US targeted shorter range missiles

that can hit US bases and allies. And the single most significant strike targeted the headquarters of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, for the last 37 years. President Trump announced his death and called it, quote, justice for the people of Iran, but also all great Americans and those people from many countries throughout the world that

have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty thugs. So this was not the limited strike that was considered by the president or his aides, nor was this even limited to that was considered by the president or his aides, nor was this even limited to Iran's nuclear or missile program. This is a war to overthrow the Iranian regime, and not quick. The president himself admitted it could be days or weeks before this was done.

There's no guarantee of success, and there's no knowing what will happen after that. But even some regional officials who were skeptical of this war before the war started, telling me tonight that now that the U.S. and Israel have started it, they need to see it through.

So Nick, when it comes to that goal of potential regime change, how are U.S. officials making that case?

So President Trump basically addressed Iranians directly when speaking earlier today. And he said that this is a single opportunity for them, and he admitted it might not be easy for the U.S.

The Iranian regime seeks to kill. The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties. That often happens in war. But we're doing this not for now. We're doing this for the future. When we are finished, take over your government.

It will be yours to take.

This will be probably your only chance for generations. Then Prime Minister Ben Netanyahu echoed President Trump speaking directly to the Iranian people.

Do not sit idly by, because soon your moment will come, the moment when you will be required to go out to the streets in your masses, to go out to the streets to complete the task and overthrow the regime of horrors that is embittering your lives.

NICK SCHIFRIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, TRNN NEWSHOUR, IN IRAQ That is a big ask, of course, Amna and Jeff, one month after the regime killed tens of thousands of protesters in the streets. One other thing, a senior administration official spoke to reporters this afternoon and added one additional argument that the US assessed Iran was considering preemptive strikes on all of those US assets in the region,

even though those US assets were just only recently deployed. How has Iran responded to this, both militarily on the ground

and then politically from Tehran's leadership?

You know, as you said, it's really an unprecedented response, not only because of the geographic range of the targets, but also the nature of the targets. Let's take a look at this map. Multiple regional officials confirmed to me Iranian strikes on targets in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar,

Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. And I want to show you two specific attacks. Those attacks from downtown Manama, Bahrain, and before that from Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, the first ever Iranian attacks on residential or hotel targets on Arab countries that make up the Gulf Cooperation Council. In addition, we've seen missile attacks on Tel Aviv and multiple missile attacks on U.S.

bases, although a military official tells me that they've only had minimal damage. Now, before the supreme leader spoke, we heard from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arranchi saying that Iran was still interested in de-escalation, but he warned that the U.S. and Israeli attacks would fail.

You cannot change this regime because it's supported by the people. Yes, there are also people who are complaining, but they are strong supporters of the regime, of the system at the same time. And then we have a very well-established political structure.

And Aranti highlighted this video, a strike on a school that Iran says killed 100, mostly children, a military official telling me tonight the U.S. is aware of these reports and is investigating.

Meanwhile, what are we seeing in the way of a political response from the rest of the

world? You know, Amna, before this attack, as you and I have talked about, many Gulf countries made it clear to the U.S. that the U.S. could not use their countries for an offensive strike on Iran. But all of those countries today not condemning the U.S. or Israeli strikes, instead condemning the Iranian counterstrikes, with one exception.

The Omani foreign minister, he wrote, quote, active and serious negotiations have yet again been undermined. As for the U.S.'s NATO allies, they are divided. Today, we heard from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney Canada, quote, supports the United States, but French President Emmanuel Macron said that the aggression must stop.

We must increase our efforts to resolve these issues through diplomatic channels, because no one can believe that the Iranian nuclear issue, ballistic missile activity and regional destabilization will be resolved simply through strikes.

NICK SCHIFRIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, CENTRAL COUNCIL ON NUCLEAR DEFENSE, U.S. NEWS ANCHORS, THE WASHINGTON POST, INC.: The bottom line there, it just shows the uncertainty

of what happens next. AMNA NAWAZ Nick Schifrin kicking off our coverage tonight. Nick, thank you. NICK SCHIFRIN Thank you. AMNA NAWAZ Meanwhile, let's bring in more of our reporting team here, congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins and White House correspondent Liz Landers. And, Liz, I'll begin with you. Just give us the latest from the president and the White House today.

LIZ LANDERS Yeah, the president has been at his private few moments ago from the White House, detailing who he was with last night when this started to happen around 1 a.m. He was with his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, the CIA director, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Cain, and also the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth. Meanwhile, the vice president, Vance, joined from the Situation Room here in D.C., where he was monitoring with other members of the cabinet. The president has been busy today, according to the White House press secretary, making calls to foreign leaders, including the leader of the U.K., Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and also

the NATO general secretary. He's been talking to reporters as well. He spoke on the phone with Axios and NBC. Axios in particular, he said that he has several off-ramps for this conflict. He said that this could go a long time, or it could also be over in a few days. And NBC News asked him who is going to lead Iran now.

And he said, candidly, I don't know. So we're continuing to monitor the president. We are not likely to see him, though, for the rest of the day, Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ. AMNA NAWAZ. Meanwhile, as I know you have been reporting on this all week, the president has been fielding questions about those ongoing negotiations with Iran, indicating he wasn't happy with how they were going. How did we get to this point?

TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio): The president said over and over this week publicly that he wanted diplomacy to be the first route here, but he also made it clear throughout the State of the Union to millions of Americans, he said that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. So he had made that clear. We saw also some reporting this week and some leaking through the press about what the chairman of the Joint Chiefs had apparently been telling him. The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, a few other news outlets confirmed that Dan

Kaine had warned him that this could be a serious issue if the United States engaged in a long-term conflict with Iran because of depleted munitions here in the US after giving support to Israel and Ukraine over many years now. Trump pushed back on this on Truth Social,

saying that Kaine had told him that the Iran operation could be easily won. But yesterday, the president said, to reporters I was there as he was leaving the White House, he said he had not made a decision about Iran, but said, quote, we are not exactly happy with the way that they've negotiated.

Liz Landers, thank you.

And Lisa, the Constitution gives Congress the sole authority to declare war, something as you well know Congress has not done in decades.

How are lawmakers seeing their role in this moment? Under the War Powers Act of 1973, the administration must notify Congress within 48 hours of introducing troops into a conflict. Secretary of State Rubio did that. He called the so-called Gang of Eight, the top leaders from both parties, and in one case texted one of those leaders. Now the War Powers Act also says that presidents can only continue that conflict for 60 to 90 days. However, most presidents have ignored the War Powers Act. They have said that they says that presidents can only continue that conflict for 60 to 90 days.

However, most presidents have ignored the War Powers Act. They have said that they think that's unconstitutional. There has not really been a test of that before the Supreme Court. There will be a political and policy test, however, in the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate next week. We expect a vote on whether to limit the president from having any military action in Iran.

I want to take a look at what exactly this resolution would do that will come up on the House floor next week. That war powers resolution would end the use of the military against Iran unless Congress specifically approves it. It requires a majority vote from both chambers, and the president can veto it. So it doesn't look like it would have effect, but it would undermine his ability to say

that he has the mandate of the American people if it passed. We're watching that.

And on the substance of the strikes themselves, what are you hearing from lawmakers?

Right, there is a vast spectrum. Unified Congress wants more information both on the end plan here and the objective. There will be classified briefings this week, but I want to give you a quick sense of the spectrum otherwise. First, from the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Roger Wicker.

He wrote today that this is a pivotal and necessary operation, and that the president has stated the operation goals clearly. But on the other end, Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, usually someone who's diplomatic, was very blunt. He said today the strikes are a colossal mistake. The Senate should immediately return to vote on them.

He, along with other Democrats, said they are illegal. So it will be a very vigorous debate this week.

NICK SCHIFRIN, The Washington Post's Press Secretary Nicholas Schifrin, thank you.

NICK SCHIFRIN, The Washington Post's Press Secretary Nicholas Schifrin, Lisa Desjardins, All right, well, for perspective on all of this, we turn now to three people with extensive experience dealing with Iran. Alan Ayer had a four-decade career in U.S. government. He was part of the Obama administration's team negotiating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, agreement with Iran. He's now at the Middle East Institute.

Retired Army Colonel Joel Rayburn was on the National Security Council staff during the first Trump administration, focusing on Iran and the Middle East. He's now a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. And Holly Dagres is a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. That's a Washington think tank. She spent her teenage years in Tehran and writes The Iranist.

That's a weekly Substack newsletter. Welcome to you all. And, Alan and Colonel Rayburn, I will begin with you. If you can give us briefly your assessment, I have a feeling you may disagree on this, but just your reaction to these unprecedented strikes and if it's clear to you what the objective is here. Alan, to you first.

COL.

RAYMOND RAYMOND, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers explanations as to why they're doing this. Iran's an Indian threat. Iran wouldn't cooperate on the negotiating table. They were threatening U.S. troops who we'd searched in the region for just the history of malign behavior that Iran has done. So it's unclear the reason why we're doing it.

More clear is the goal. President Trump was quite clear that he's hoping to paralyze the Iranian regime, and then that the Iranian people step in and finish the job and create some type of new regime, although he said today that he might stop bombing in two or three days and then do it again two or three years from now if they try to reconstitute their missiles or their nuclear program.

So there's a lot of ambiguity.

Colonel Rabin, what about you?

Well, I think operationally the objective has been pretty clear. If you combine it with the operations last June that struck the nuclear sites, that was a major objective, the nuclear program, ending the nuclear program, the ballistic missile and drone program. It seems like the strikes from this morning and throughout the day very much focused on eliminating the Iranian regime's ballistic missile capabilities.

Now the further objective that the administration had stated of compelling the Iranian regime to sever its relations or discontinue its use of its terrorist militant proxies elsewhere in the region, military operations to do that are not entirely clear. I think that would have to be accompanied essentially with compulsion, coercion of the regime, just to the remnants of a regime to just accede to that. But in terms of the nuclear sites,

that's sort of the box is checked. Ballistic missiles, well on the way to being checked.

And Holly, I know you've been closely following reactions inside Iran. When President Trump calls on Iranians to take over their country, take back their country, does that resonate in any way, or does it risk underestimating how entrenched

the clerical leadership remains?

Well, I think at this moment now that it's been confirmed that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been killed by US and Israeli strikes, I mean, the footage I'm seeing is nothing short but extraordinary out of Iran. Iranians are celebrating in various cities across the country.

And for them, this has been the role of a dictator, the face of one dictator, a part of a clerical establishment for 47 years. For them, Khamenei's been around for 37 years of the 47. And so in this moment, they're expressing euphoria because of their pain and suffering under the Islamic Republic, and especially given the recent unprecedented massacre in January at this moment.

Colonel Rayburn, the death of Iran's supreme leader, how does that fundamentally change the trajectory of this conflict and the future of the Iranian regime such that we know it?

Well, not just this conflict in the Iranian regime, it changes the trajectory of the Middle East. Ali Khamenei has been a dominant figure in the Middle East by essentially taking one of the region's strongest powers and employing it in an antagonistic, aggressive national security policy to destabilize the entire region around him. I mean, he was the linchpin of that national security strategy.

He's gone. I think if I could add to the earlier discussion, it seems like the overarching objective from the United States with Israel's support is to compel Iran to adopt a different and discontinue essentially its antagonistic foreign policy. And this is quite, this is quite a step toward that, or at least a demonstration of determination to force that.

Alan Ayer, can air power alone produce lasting regime change? What does history tell us?

I'm sorry, I'm hearing background noise from the control room. Yeah, air power is not gonna bring about regime change. Air power can parallel the institutions that are controlling Iran and perhaps even possibly create a space for the Iranian people to revive their protest that as Holly said, started

late last December and continued in January. But history has shown us clearly that you can only do so much from the air. And, as Susan Maloney from the Brookings Institute said, one thing you can't do from the air is create democracy.

AMNA NAWAZ, The Cook Political Reporter.

Holly, what is your reaction to what we've heard here so far, especially when you look forward to what the Iranian people would like to see happen next, especially in the way of intervention from the international community? As you've mentioned, previous uprisings have been squashed. What do you see happening in the days and weeks ahead?

Well, it's really hard to read in this moment. Granted, I did talk about video and footage coming out of Iran. There is a communication shutdown, and what we've been seeing is through Starlink, which 50,000 to 60,000 Iranian users use terminals inside the country. So in this moment, I have to say, before the strikes had begun in January, we saw before the unprecedented massacre on January 8th and 9th that Iranians were thanking President Donald Trump.

They were changing street signs. And it was because the president had said, help is on the way, take over your institutions. And of course, it took many, many weeks for us to get to this point. But there's been calls from inside the country for R2P or responsibility to protect from some of its foremost activists

like human rights lawyer, Nasrin Nasruthudeh. So in this moment, there's celebration, there's hope, but as Alan noted, it's not something, democracy doesn't come from the air overnight. And so I think we're going to have to wait and see what the developments are on the ground. And if these protesters that I've mentioned that we're celebrating are brutally crushed

by the remnants of the security forces that still continue to exist.

Colonel Rayburn, does this moment seem any fundamentally different to you to the point that we've seen uprisings and protests crushed in Iran before?

Well, yes, I mean, it is fundamentally different. This is an Iranian regime that's never been decapitated before. Israeli reports are saying they estimate that they eliminated up to 40 of the top regime leaders. Look, I think in a sense, the regime has already changed. This was a Khamenei dictatorship.

He had consolidated power around himself over the last 37 years, and he's suddenly gone, along with senior leaders of the IRGC for the second time decapitated. So already, whatever leadership remains in his wake is going to be different. They're going to have to adopt a different attitude.

The military mismatch is still going on. American and Israeli planes are still flying. It only gets worse militarily from here for the Iranian regime. So I think there's probably a window of opportunity coming.

AMNA NAWAZ.

Alan Ayer, lastly to you now. As you look ahead in the days and weeks of what's to come, if the goal here was decapitation of the leadership structure, if the nuclear program has been degraded, we're talking about a different regime in Iran today than five years ago even, a different region even in terms of the way that the balance of power has shifted. What's your guidance to the U.S. government on what those continued strikes President

Trump has said could happen, could and should look like?

DR.

PETER BAKER, Former U.S. Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Affairs, U.S.

Department of State Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of State Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. They had appointed successors. And it's not so much a question of personalities as institutions. So to what extent will bombs from above not just kill important people, and in fact, it has killed lots of key leaders, but destroy the institutions that can regenerate new leadership? That's what I'll be watching in the weeks ahead, because at a certain point, when President Trump and the Israelis are essentially just bombing the rubble, but the Iranian repressive

and oppressive leadership structure is still in place to repress its own people, then the question becomes, what now?

And Holly, we have about 30 seconds left for a final thought.

Yeah, I mean, the thing is, I think in this moment, we have to acknowledge the Iranian people in this. They're hopeful. I know we're putting our analyst hats on here, talking about military strategy and the outcome. I think it's too soon to tell, but in this moment,

I think we should hone in on that factor that they've been under this brutal, repressive regime for 47 years. And they've been calling for the ouster of the Islamic Republic for a long time now. And this is where things are.

Alan Eyre, Colonel Joel Rayburn, and Holly Dougras, our thanks to the three of you. And let's turn now to Reza Sayeh, a special correspondent in Tehran. It's good to see you. So give us a sense of what you've seen and heard there on the ground today.

Yeah, this was a bleak, grim and scary day for the people of Iran, a population that has seen a lot of adversity over these past five decades. And this time the adversity they're facing was an attack by the world's leading superpower, the United States of America and the regional power, Israel, both of them nuclear powers, mind you. The attacks, the first wave of attacks

started at about 9.40 AM local time. This was a Saturday, the first day of the work week here in Tehran. I was at home with my 70-year-old daughter when I heard these jarring explosions,

these jarring booms, and that's when I knew that this was an attack. I quickly put my daughter in my car and then headed to northern Tehran to somewhere safe. And in traveling to that part of the city, I saw some remarkable scenes, stunned people in shock, pouring out of buildings, looking up at the sky, trying to figure out where

these explosions were coming from, many people on their cell phones, many scurrying to get home. I saw people flagging down motorcycles to beat the traffic. And some of the scenes that will stay with me for a very long time are seeing parents, many parents racing to schools to take their children

to safety, many of their children in school uniforms. After that initial attack, there was a lull for about several hours. That's when we saw state media reporting that the offices, the headquarters of the Supreme Leader had been targeted, the offices of the president

and other leaders. At that point, no reports of any casualties and fatalities. We saw a report in state media that a school in the southern city of Minab was hit by a missile. It last reports 90 students and teachers were killed in that attack. And after the lull, it lasted a few hours. And at 7.45 p.m. local time, more booms here.

And by that time, the streets, streets that are usually busy on a Saturday night, were pretty empty, an indication that many people had either left town or raced home for safety.

AMNA NAWAZ. Reza, tell us a little bit about the reaction you have seen, at least initially, to the reports that the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been killed.

REZA SAYAH, Israeli Press Secretary for the Israeli Government and Foreign Affairs, Foreign

Affairs and Security Council Spokesman for the United States Department of State for the United States and Israel, speaking to a U.S. official in the U.S. Department of State on Thursday. First off, we should point out that no one here, no Iranian official, state media has confirmed those reports. at local time, and we saw and heard sporadic cheers from residents, probably about a dozen people here

where I am for a few minutes came out and cheered, an indication of the divisions here, and indications of strong feelings among some people in the population who simply do not like the clerical establishment led by the supreme leader. So no confirmation from Iranian officials.

Abbas Arafati, the Iranian foreign minister and the spokesperson for the foreign ministry, went on television. This was a few hours before the initial report, saying that, indeed, leaders had been targeted, but those targets, those attacks had failed, that the senior leadership, senior military leaders were safe and OK. But we're waiting, monitoring Iranian officials to see if they have any kind of comments about these reports that are emerging.

AMNA NAWAZ. That's special correspondent Reza Sayah in Tehran. Reza, thank you. And that concludes our PBS News Live special report. You can follow all the latest developments at PBS.org slash NewsHour and on our YouTube and social media channels.

JEFF BENNETT, PBS NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT, PBS NEWSHOUR, THANK YOU. For additional coverage, we hope you will join us all week here on the PBS NewsHour. For additional coverage, we hope you will join us all week here on the PBS NewsHour.

I'm Jeff Bennett. Thank you for watching.